ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2022

Leaky Black

Hubert Davis

Brady Manek

Barclays Center

North Carolina Tar Heels

Postgame Press Conference

North Carolina 63, Virginia 43

Q. Brady, what worked for you in the first half to score 19 points? Seemed like you were scoring all over the court in a variety of ways.

BRADY MANEK: Yeah, I was making shots but they were finding me on back cuts, picking and popping, just getting to an open spot. Caleb, RJ, Leaky, even Armando hit me with a back door pass and just everybody playing well, playing together, playing tough.

Q. Leaky, the same question, but defensively in the first half, what allowed you guys to be so stifling? And as the game went on, did you sense any frustration from them as shots kept missing?

LEAKY BLACK: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like our physicality from the beginning and our intensity just really took them out of their flow. They're just like a rhythm team, just the offense they run, so I feel like just our physicality with them really made them struggle.

Q. Leaky, earlier this year, you guys have had issues sometimes not handling success well. You obviously handled it pretty well from the other night. What was the communication from Hubert the last couple days cutting the cord from the Duke game and be ready to go tonight?

LEAKY BLACK: He kept using the word validation, just validating the fact that we were a good team from the beginning and we were just waiting on our moment to show it, and I feel like we showed it today.

Q. Leaky, what did Hubert say to you in terms of he was going to put you on Kihei for the game, and did you feel like he was the one who made UVA go? Like if you could disrupt his game, you could disrupt their offense?

LEAKY BLACK: Absolutely. He's been there four years. He's the one that gets them into their offense. And he didn't really tell me anything. He just me I was starting on Kihei and that was pretty much it.

Q. Brady, at what moment in the first half did you know you were going to break out and score 19 points like you did?

BRADY MANEK: Probably when I had 19. I was just playing basketball, making shots, getting to open spots. Like I said, a lot of my shots don't come from what I do, it's from what everybody else does for me. Having guys on the floor that are also threats gets me more space, more time and more chances to be open.

Q. Are you surprised this was as easy as it was or at least as one-sided as it was?

LEAKY BLACK: Surprised? No. I'm pretty confident in our guys. I feel like we should do this more often.

BRADY MANEK: Yeah, what he said, just came out and played hard. We've got two more games we need to play hard and we need to win. Coming into that game, we knew we'd come out punching first, play harder, play tougher, that was going to be the result.

Q. Leaky, what was it like waiting around to play? I think there have been 10 tournament games before you guys finally got on the court. Were you watching some of the games? Were you tired of waiting? Did you think you were ready to get out there and go?

LEAKY BLACK: Absolutely. We've just been anxious, like Coach Davis said, to validate our win from this past weekend. We've definitely been watching some of the games. It's been a crazy month so far, all these buzzer beaters and upsets, but yeah, we were just ready to go.

Q. Brady, you play with a lot of emotion. I'm assuming one of the reasons why you came to UNC was to play in this type of environment. What were your expectations coming into maybe the ACC Tournament and coming into North Carolina and how has your experience lived up to them?

BRADY MANEK: Yeah, you know, coming into North Carolina, I knew we had really good fans, really good program, a lot of support behind us. I didn't realize it was this big. It was one of the coolest things to be a part of, and I can't be more thankful than I already am. It's unbelievable.

Q. I know you're just fresh off this win, but if you could think a little bit about the match-ups with Tech during the season and what stands out, what do you need to do in this one?

BRADY MANEK: Yeah, they're a really good team. They're solid. We've had some really good games with them. Really tough ones. They've got really key pieces and we just need to focus, play hard like we did tonight and come out, see what happens.

LEAKY BLACK: Pretty much what he said. We've got to not take them lightly. They're a good team despite their record, and they always play us hard, so we've got to be ready to go.

Q. Tech has been a pretty good defensive team all season, but offensively they've kind of hit their stride lately. Brady, what kind of problems do Mutts and Aluma face guarding them down low? And then, Leaky, guys in the perimeter like Cattoor and Alleyne, what kind of challenges do they present?

BRADY MANEK: Yeah, their bigs are good, they're solid. They play hard, they play well together. Seen a lot of videos of them, played them recently. Just them being two really good teammates down low, and they both are big factors in tomorrow's game, so we just need to lock in and play hard.

LEAKY BLACK: For the guards, I feel like they really can shoot the ball and they capitalize on our mistakes, so we've really got to be disciplined in guarding them.

Q. Leaky, I was wondering if you could speak on Brady's offensive game and how you've seen him progress this season, not just as a shooter but maybe the way he's grown and developed.

LEAKY BLACK: Right, in the beginning, you guys looked at him as maybe just a shooter, but now you really see how dynamic. He really can score the ball, moving without the ball, cutting. He's been a mismatch nightmare for other teams, and it looks so easy for him.

Q. Brady, given the number of minutes you guys have been playing, tonight you were 27, Leaky was at 31, how beneficial was it you were able to use the bench tonight, had that lead, given the fact you might have to play two more games here?

BRADY MANEK: Yeah, I think it's good. We came out and did what we needed to do. Came out and -- I like playing, so I don't know what you want me to say. It was good seeing those other guys compete, playing hard, and securing that win for us.

Q. Were you aware that, one, Brady, you were outscoring Virginia through the first 27 minutes of the game by yourself? And two, did you think you guys in your estimation are playing your best basketball of the year right now?

BRADY MANEK: No, I didn't know it, but now that you say it, it sounds about right. (Laughter).

Q. You guys had a wait. Coming off a big win Saturday, how was this week in preparation?

BRADY MANEK: Yeah, we just had to focus and play when it was our time to play. We've been sitting around for a couple days, walk-throughs, practices, just trying to get ready. A lot of naps for all of us and just having fun, enjoying it.

Q. Obviously I know they have some limitations offensively, but you guys held them to their season low output. What was working so well for you defensively?

HUBERT DAVIS: Well, it just felt like every shot that they took, we were in a position to contest it. I really liked the job that Leaky did on Clark. One of the big differences from the first time that we played Virginia, I felt like from an offensive standpoint, they were featuring Clark a lot more, especially in late-clock situations.

We wanted our best defensive player on Clark, and we felt like his size and his athleticism would bother him, but it just wasn't Leaky's defense. I feel like everybody else was locked in defensively.

We talk about this a lot. For us to have success out there on the floor, if we can play defense, if we can rebound the basketball and also limit our turnovers, it really puts us in a good position out there on the floor, and it takes care of the offense.

Because we were so good defensively, I don't think we were really good offensively outside of Brady. It allowed us to be really good out there on the floor.

Q. Earlier in the season you guys had some issues dealing with success at times. What was the difference now coming off the Duke game, you guys cutting the cord to that? And at what point do you think you started to see that they were making that adjustment, they weren't having that as an issue anymore?

HUBERT DAVIS: Yeah, you know, so many people had asked how are you going to bounce back and how are you going to adjust after the emotions from the game this past Saturday? And I just didn't understand that. It was an emotional game, but it was just a game.

Our attention and our focus and our preparation and our practice from last Saturday has been squarely on the ACC Tournament. And once we found out we were playing Virginia, it was narrowed in in terms of our focus on playing a really good Virginia team.

That's where we are. We don't look at things that are outside of our control, and we don't look at things in the past. We focus on what's in front of us, and now what's in front of us is playing an extremely good Virginia Tech team that we've played twice this year.

Q. How important was it for you guys to get off to a fast start given that the other top seeds all kind of seem like they struggled in the first half? I don't know if it was because of the double bye and the space between the regular season ending and now playing, but just how important was it to get out to that good start in the first half?

HUBERT DAVIS: It was very important for us to get off to a good start. One of the things that's difficult, you get that double bye, but this was the first time -- we've never practiced here, we've never had a shootaround here, so when we came on the court, this was our first time ever shooting, playing on this floor in this arena.

I wasn't worried, but I was thinking we would be a little hesitant out there on the floor trying to find a rhythm.

On the offensive end, I think it took us a while to get into the rhythm with the exception of Brady, but defensively that's what got us the lead. I thought where we got our confidence and our strength was us continuing to get defensive stops, and even though from an offensive standpoint it took us a while to get in a rhythm, I felt like our defense was so good that it allowed us to be successful.

Q. You mentioned obviously outside of Brady, the offensive exception. He was exceptional in the first half. What's your philosophy on riding a hot hand when a guy is hitting like that and is this the player you guys envisioned when you got him out of the portal last summer?

HUBERT DAVIS: Well, I mean, Brady was in a nice rhythm in the first half, but he's been in a pretty good rhythm the entire season. One of the things that I hope people are seeing, he's not just a great three-point shooter, he's a basketball player, and he can put the ball on the floor. He's an excellent passer, he's always in the right spots. He's an instinctive player on both ends of the floor that just makes plays consistently to put our team in a good position, and we needed him in the first half.

We were trying to establish Armando down low in the paint. We were trying to use ball screens in transition to get downhill. Virginia is so good defensively, at times it's very hard to find good shots, but Brady's ability to shoot the ball from the outside and also penetrate and drive and get to the basket really opened us up from an offensive standpoint and allowed us to play a little bit better on the offensive end.

Q. You of course played in a lot of ACC tournaments. What was it like coaching in one and coming away with a convincing win in your first one as a coach?

HUBERT DAVIS: It was really emotional. I told the guys before they came out to warm up, I said, the ACC, I grew up watching the ACC. I grew up going to the ACC, watching my uncle when he was here playing at Carolina from '74 through '77. I played in the ACC Tournament. I was an assistant coach at the ACC Tournament for nine years, and now I'm the head coach participating in the ACC Tournament.

I just told them that this was a big deal to me. It's significant. I just was really excited and very thankful and humbled to be in this position and to be in this position here at the ACC Tournament.

I love this tournament, and I have so many great memories watching and being a player and now as a coach.

Q. Now you have a chance to make another memory tomorrow. You've played Virginia Tech twice. What stands out and what are some of the keys to that matchup?

HUBERT DAVIS: Well, you know, they're -- from an offensive standpoint, they just have a lot of movement. They've got great spacing and balance. They're an outstanding three-point shooting team. But they also have two guys that can score consistently down low on the block, and both of those guys are outstanding passers.

So automatically it puts you into making a choice; do you double-team the post or do you stay at home with the shooters. They're just a very difficult team to match up with.

The two games that we played them, one in Chapel Hill, another one in Blacksburg, were highly contested and very competitive, and it'll be another great matchup tomorrow night.

Q. Leaky mentioned your message after the Duke game was validation. Could you just explain what you meant by that and why it's important?

HUBERT DAVIS: Well, you know, that's something that we've talked about the entire season is validating a good performance, validating a win, validating who we are as a team. One of the things that we talked about is we've played really well over the last month and a half, and specifically we played really well this past Saturday.

Let's validate the win that we had this past Saturday by playing extremely well today. That's something that we've talked about at great length throughout the season and something that's really important to us, that we want to continue to validate our good performances and continue to improve throughout the season.